Disclaimer: Skyrim was played on the Xbox 360 and Elder Scrolls
Online (ESO) on the PC. While this may
affect some things, most of the subjects discussed below are in general terms
versus the game play differences inherent in playing on different platforms.
An article by Glitchiee:
WHY THE
COMPARISON TO SKYRIM:
To
put it simply: both ESO and Skyrim are amazing games and both have their
strengths and weaknesses. The
differences discussed are going to be the major points that you may be looking
for when trying to decide whether or not to invest in ESO. And since so many people have played, loved
and touted Skyrim as the best Elder Scrolls game, there's only one thing to do:
stack ESO next to it and see how it fares.
"Okay, children, what have we learned?"
"Never talk to strangers and stab them in the back for extra damage."
"Excellent. Class dismissed."
MAJOR
DIFFERENCES:
One
of the major differences between Skyrim and ESO is the massive multiplayer
online (MMO) factor. Skyrim is a single
player game, while ESO technically is not.
So while you can wander around Tamriel on your own like a long wolf in
ESO, there are certain quests that do require you to work with other
players. And in towns, on the road and
on quests, you will see other player's characters running around completing
their own quests and you'll be able to interact with them. So the ability to choose whether you want to
play with others or not is a huge draw for those that still like the single
player style of Skyrim, but maybe want to dip their toes into ESO and get a
taste for working alongside others.
Also, if you're a brave enough warrior, there's also the PvP element
found in ESO which allows best friends or strangers to battle against one
another in Cyrodil.
Another
major difference is the inclusion of factions, which unfortunately, are
nonexistent in Skyrim. There are three
factions in ESO: Aldmeri Dominion (AD), Daggerfall Covenant (DC) and Ebonheart
Pact (EP). Depending on which character
race you decide to play, will determine which faction you become part of. And while the main story line of ESO is the
same, each faction has its own distinct story line, adding a large amount of
replay ability. So you can have a
character in each faction and play their story lines along with their separate
areas. This is different from Skyrim,
where no matter what race you pick, you will always start in the same place
with the same quests. And although some
characters may react differently to you, there are no separate quest lines for
different races.
"Where the hell did all these extra people come from?"
"Some kind of MMO bullsh*t that everyone has been talking about."
"No kidding? Well...there goes the neighborhood."
CRAFTING/ALCHEMY/ENCHANTING:
When
it comes to crafting, the system in ESO is much more involved than it was in
Skyrim. In Skyrim you could cook food as
long as you had the correct ingredients.
In ESO, cooking is actually a skill known as provisioning. So now you need recipes to create those
delicious dishes. This can be a hassle
when your inventory (which will be
discussed later) gets filled up with provisioning ingredients. And Alchemy is pretty much the same except
there are fewer ingredients and you need a base—in the form of water—to create
your potions and poisons. Enchanting, on
the other hand, no longer needs a table to get the enchantment onto the
weapon. Runes now collected throughout
the wild, need to be combined. And once
combined, you can enchant your equipment at any time.
When
it comes to crafting armor and weapons, there are now three separate
workstations to be utilized: blacksmith station (which is the only station in Skyrim), a woodworking station and a
clothier station. And each station deals
with different types of materials, but they all have the same options. These options are to create an item,
deconstruct an item (which gives back
materials), to buff an item, and to research an item, which allows you to
learn its special properties beyond enchanting.
Be careful though, researching an item will destroy it in the
process. Crafting materials can be found
in the wild and are often in a raw state.
So you will need to change their form before being able to use them to
craft items. There are also various
motifs that allow you to craft items using specification from various
races. And all these additions in ESO,
really take crafting to the next level.
"Number 59?"
"Yes, Hi...I'll take a half a pound of head cheese, half a pound of peppered ham, and how's
your Lycan meat this time of year?"
INVENTORY:
As
stated above, inventory management can be a big problem in ESO. In Skyrim, inventory was based off of pounds,
allowing you to drop one heavy item in order to pick up many smaller items. Increasing your carry weight was also easy as
it increased when you leveled up your stamina.
In ESO inventory is based off a number of items instead of weight. So no matter how heavy the item is you can
pick it up as long as you have an open slot.
This is great if you are collecting a lot of crafting materials as each
material will just stack in that one spot.
But the downfall of having a numbered inventory versus a weighted
inventory is the provisioning items.
While this has been a general trend in Skyrim with food items being one
of the most common to find, it becomes more of a problem in ESO. None of the provisioning items will sell for
any amount of gold. And they also take
up a lot of space and since you need recipes now in order to cook, it is harder
to get rid of these items quickly.
Another
difficulty of inventory management in ESO is increasing space. In order to increase the amount of items you
can carry you have to purchase a bag expansion from the merchant. These are costly items and for beginners can
really put a dent into saving for other things.
Also, there are no houses in ESO where you can go and dump all the items
you want to keep. Instead, there are
banks, but these also have an item maximum.
And again, the maximum can be increased for a price.
And
speaking of money drain. Fast traveling
has a price too. While it was free to
fast travel in Skyrim that is not the case in ESO. If you are without a horse and don't like
walking to get to places, you will be losing a good chunk of change to the fast
travel wayshrine machine. And what if
you want a mount? Well you better pull
out your real wallet for cash, because mounts are crazy expensive in game.
"Okay, teamwork...you beat the floating apparition with your stick and I'll stand here, looking
anxious and plucking butterflies out of the air."
"Sounds goo--wait? WHAT?!"
SIMILARITIES:
While
it may seem that there are too many differences to make ESO in any way similar
to Skyrim that is not the case. As with
previous Elder Scrolls games, ESO has customizable characters, a plethora of
quests to keep you occupied, and a highly detailed open world. With all the races you have come to know and
love, ESO is most definitely an Elder Scrolls game. And in game, there are even the same books as
Skyrim!
One
more familiarity about ESO is that the story is very similar to that of
Oblivion. Malog Bal has decided to wreak
havoc with no successor to the throne present.
Portals are opening all over and deadra are pouring forth. Sounds pretty much the same right? So if you liked Oblivion, think of ESO as
Oblivion mushed with Skyrim.
"Do I look like I want to converse right now? I've been up all night creating potions, have mud crabs
coming out of the wazoo in my basement, and recently my husband has crawled out of his grave
and demanded I make him a sandwich."
CONCLUSION:
Whether or not you decide to invest in ESO, it
is still a game worth its salt. It has a
large amount of quests, the ability to enter into new story lines when starting
another game, and an amazing open world.
Add on the ability to choose whether you want to play alone or with
others, this MMO makes journeying back into Tamriel a whole new experience.Editor: Hank – Twitter / Twitch
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